A Tail Like No Other
by Tecnafan
Summary: It all started when Timmy found a strange necklace and decided to give it to Tecna. The necklace did more than what Tecna ever wanted, her powers disappeared and she's now half mermaid! With Valtor still around, will she still be able to help her friends?
1. Chapter 1

**This is just a little story I was thinking of writing...and now I want to share it with everyone. Oh and I would like to thank ChrisJan34 for her input. n_n**

**This is fanfiction #5.**

_A Tail Like No Other_

Chapter 1: Cursed

Tecna sat under a beach umbrella on the sandy white beaches in Magix. Every few minutes she would catch someone staring at her, they knew who she was. By now everyone did.

Ever since Tecna miraculous return from the Omega Dimension a couple days ago, that's when it started. She was the miracle girl who survived the frozen hell, but Tecna was pretty sure a lot of people (with the courage) could survive too. By now even the dimensions millions of miles away from here knew about her. She wished the staring, the pointing...she wished all of it would just go away. If everyone in the magical dimension knew about you, where do you go?

"Timmy, why did you bring me here?" Tecna frowned as Timmy came and sat next to her.

"I know the swimming will relax you, that's why I brought you here," Timmy replied.

"Well I want to go back to Alfea," Tecna watched again as a surfer looked back over his shoulder to look at her. "Don't you see the people staring at me like I'm some sort of freak?"

"Nope," Timmy smiled.

"How could you not see them?"

"Because I'm ignoring them, and you should too," Timmy kissed her lightly.

"You just don't know what it's like," Tecna sighed and lay on her back.

"It'll pass over soon," Timmy said.

"Whatever," Tecna replied. "You know I hate any type of fame."

"Just come in the water, you'll at least forget about it for awhile," Timmy grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Fine," Tecna crossed her arms and walked with Timmy into the water. They went far enough until they couldn't touch the bottom.

"Am I relaxed yet?" Tecna sighed.

"Try," Timmy pleaded, he held her close. "You know below the water is a beautiful coral reef."

"Really?" Tecna's eyes grew wide. She took a deep breath and they both dove under the waves and Tecna was shocked to what she saw. Timmy was right; there was an endless stretch of coral reef below her. The coral was every shade imaginable; reds, blues, purples, greens, yellow.

"Breathtaking," Tecna watched as a school of colourful fish swam through her. She giggled because the fish tickled. Timmy urged her down and she dove a few feet deeper. She ran her hands across the coral. The different textures amazed her; it was her first time swimming at a coral reef.

She giggled as Timmy went to look inside a small cave but instead a swarm of tropical fish playfully attacked him. They both shot up towards the surface for a breath of air then went back down. Timmy went to this large patch of seaweed and swept his hands through it. He suddenly felt something and pulled it out. He signalled Tecna to go to the surface so he could show her.

They broke the surface.

"What's wrong?" Tecna panted.

"Look what I found," Timmy smiled and pulled out a necklace.

It was a simple necklace made out of a many good sized turquoise stones. Between the stones were small gold beads.

"Wow..." Tecna said.

"Here," he tied it around her neck. It was a little difficult because they were floating in the water but he managed.

"I can't take this...it must belong to somebody," Tecna said.

"They don't make necklaces like those anymore. It's old," Timmy replied.

"Still..." Tecna bit her lip.

"It was covered by some sand. No one has missed it since then so no one will care if you have it. Besides, it matches the colour of your eyes," Timmy replied. Tecna blushed after his comment.

Later they both sat back on the beach. Tecna looked at her necklace carefully; there was something eerie about it. Tecna shrugged it off and rested next to Timmy on the beach.

Tecna looked at Timmy with a very serious face, "Timmy...do you think Valtor will open the portal on tides again?"

"What makes you say that?" Timmy asked.

"I don't know. It's just that Valtor is still on the merge for power and Tides is still in ruins. Knowing Valtor he would open it up again," Tecna sighed.

"He knows you or any of the girls can close it so why would he attempt it again?" Timmy asked.

"Because he could potentially get rid of one of us in the process," Tecna frowned, "probably me."

"Don't say that! You and the girls will stop him," Timmy held her close; "Me and the guys will be there too."

"You're only going to get hurt..." Tecna mumbled quietly to herself.

**Ta-daa :O**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Powerless

"People are still talking about the Omega thing?" Musa gasped. Tecna just finished telling her friends about her day. She left out the part about the necklace... just to keep the conversation short.

Tecna nodded sadly, "More than before. It's really spread."

"Lucky. I would do anything to be that popular," Stella frowned.

"Not everyone likes fame Stella," Layla replied to Stella.

"Make all of it go away!" Tecna buried her head in her pillow.

"At least they aren't spreading mean rumours," Flora said.

"But that's what it feels like. It feels like some nasty rumour," Tecna tightened her grip on the bed sheets, becoming more furious with everything.

"But it's not," Stella sighed.

"Listen, when we get to classes tomorrow you'll forget all about it. Remember we're having a training exercise with Faragonda tomorrow," Musa said.

"She says we need to be ready for Valtor," Stella rolled her eyes; "I think we are."

"We aren't ready Stella..." Layla said.

"She's right though," Bloom sighed.

X x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The next morning Tecna walked very slowly to her class. She walked cautiously, trying to avoid stares.

"Why me..." Tecna sighed. "When is it going to pass over?"

"Obviously not soon enough," a voice said behind her. Tecna immediately knew it was Musa.

"Was I talking out loud?!" Tecna quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

Musa nodded, "But it's early so everyone's tired. No one's paying attention."

A few minutes later they were standing on the Alfea grounds with the rest of the Winx Club girls.

"I'm nervous," Flora said. "What if I get hurt?"

"You aren't going to get hurt," Layla reassured.

"No one knows for sure," Stella shrugged.

"You aren't helping Stella!" Layla sighed.

"Just saying," Stella replied.

"So how has your morning been Tec?" Musa asked.

"Fine, no one's drawn attention to me yet. Thank Magix for that," Tecna replied with a small smile on her face.

"We don't want you to disappear," Musa joked.

"Yeah because if you did, the whole realm will know and go out looking for you," Stella added.

Tecna took a deep breath, "What am I going to do?" She said quietly to herself. While the other girls were talking with each other, she fiddled with the necklace Timmy found. It felt a lot heavier than it did yesterday, but Tecna shrugged thinking she was losing her marbles.

"Good morning girls," Ms. Faragonda said. Tecna tucked the necklace underneath her shirt and faced Ms.F.

"Good morning Faragonda," she said in unison with the other girls.

"As you girls know, Valtor and the Trix are still on the merge. From what I think, they will come to Magix again," she calmly said to them. "Since you all have earned your Enchantix, it's time for you to put it to the test." She waved her arms and it front of them stood six Valtor's.

"Now let's see how each of you can handle being one on one," Faragonda snapped her fingers and the Valtor's began to move.

Each of the girls prepared by transforming into Enchantix mode. Tecna however felt strange, every time she tried to transform nothing would happen. The Valtor came closer to her and began shooting at her.

"What's going on? Why can't I transform?!" she ducked and avoided his shots. She watched out of the corner of her eye as each of the girls struggled with battling the fake Valtor's. Tecna got up and tried transforming again, but nothing would happen. Not even some sparkles or glimmering light to show she had some power in her.

She suddenly felt a huge jolt of energy hit her from behind. Tecna hit the school wall hard. She fell limp to the ground and then darkness came over her. Tecna knew she was going into unconsciousness.

XXXXXXXxxxxxxXxXxXx

Timmy ran through the school, trying to find the nurses office. He turned one last corner, and there stood the Winx girls except Tecna standing outside the door.

"What happened?" Timmy panted. He practically sprinted his way through the school. Hearing the call from Musa, saying Tecna was hurt. He didn't waste any time getting to her.

"Is she alright? Did Valtor attack?" Timmy panicked.

"We don't know yet. We all were in a training exercise to prepare us for Valtor..." Bloom said.

"I think she just got shot backwards into the school wall, and was knocked unconscious," Musa said.

"We all already saw her. The nurse said she has a couple bruises but that is," Layla added.

"Can I go see her?" Timmy bit his lip.

They all nodded yes.

Timmy opened the door quietly and slipped into the room. There, across the room under the window light, was where she lay.

**So yeah, Tecna is powerless.**


	3. Chapter 3

**NOTES ON THE NEXT WINX CLUB MOVIE:**

**The movie is called Magical Adventures and will be released October 29****th**** in Italian. (AND in 3D) :D**

**I've seen a couple screenshots of them in their fairy form... and they do have Believix powers still.**

Chapter 3:  You Aren't A Fairy...

Timmy tip toed is way so he could stand next to poor innocent Tecna.

"I rushed here as fast as I could," Timmy said to Tecna, as if she was going to respond. She stared back at him with her beautiful closed eyes. The Omega Dimension incident scared Timmy to death, that's how easy it was for something so beautiful, fragile, wonderful, to just disappear without a goodbye. "We will pay Valtor back, for everything he's done." Timmy wiped a tear from his eye.

He still didn't understand what happened to him, ever since the return from Omega he's become less of a geek, and more of a Romeo. "I guess I realised how special you are to me Tec, and it took me til a couple days ago to realise it. He remembered during their second year how Tecna broke up with him because he wouldn't move on to beyond a friend stage. Timmy now thought of how stupid he was to not notice it.

Timmy suddenly felt Tecna move. She groaned a bit and Tecna opened up her eyes.

She rubbed her eyes sleepily, "T...Timmy? What are you doing here?" She sat up a bit and she noticed she was in the nurse's office, and then she felt the pain of the multiple bruises on her back. Tecna fell back down on the bed. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you would tell us," Musa walked in followed by the other girls.

"We found you unconscious," Flora explained. "We weren't paying attention at the time, try and remember sweetie."

"Wait...yes I remember now," Tecna sighed. "During the exercise I couldn't transform, and then the fake Valtor hit me backwards when I wasn't paying attention. Then I woke up here."

"Did you say you COULDN'T transform?" Bloom asked.

"Yes. It's so illogical though."

"Do you have any idea why you couldn't?" Layla asked.

"No. I used some of my powers right after returning from Omega to make sure I was okay," Tecna frowned.

"Well your magic can't just get up and walk away..." Bloom said.

"Magic can't walk Bloom," Tecna looked at Bloom with a confused face.

"Oh, it's an Earth expression. It means your magic can't just go away without reason," Bloom explained.

"Let me check," Nurse Ophelia walked in holding what looked like a glow stick with a small screen on it.

"What is that?" Stella asked.

"Wave it over a person. It will give back a magic reading in a fairy's body," the nurse explained.

Everyone watched her wave it over Tecna. She looked over the results carefully.

"Well?" Timmy asked.

"Strange," Nurse Ophelia said. "There's no magic at all."

"That's so....illogical! No one can just loose all magic!" Tecna gasped.

"Maybe it's broken?" Musa asked.

"I'll test it out," Nurse Ophelia waved it over the girls and it gave off plenty of magic results. Finally she waved it over Timmy and it gave no magic reading just like it was supposed to.

"Well that explains why you couldn't transform..." Stella said.

"But it doesn't explain why it's gone," Flora added.

"I can't believe this is happening," Tecna whipped tears from her eyes.

"It can only be the work of Valtor!" Bloom said.

"Why would he make her powers disappear? And how?" Musa asked, not believing Valtor caused this.

"I agree with Musa," Timmy frowned.

"We can only know for sure...by finding him," Bloom shivered at the thought at meeting Valtor again.

"I think I can answer that," Layla answered. "Me and my parents talked a couple days ago, Valtor and the Trix are hiding out on Tides again. Tides is in worse shape than ever before."

"Is there anything we can do?" Stella asked.

"When we are all ready, we need to go to Tides and finish Valtor off for good!" Layla said furiously, holding back tears.

Timmy's watch suddenly started making beeping noises.

"Oh...I have to get back to Redfountain. I'm sorry to leave you like this Tec," he said as he helped Tecna to her feet. She stumbled a bit and almost fell over but Timmy caught her. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes," she took a deep breath. He kissed her softly on the cheek and was out the door.

"And we should return to class to," Flora said.

"Are you coming Tec?" Musa asked.

"No," Tecna eyes began to water up. "The classes are only for 'fairies'." She ran back to her dorm crying heavily, hoping her friends won't see her tears. As soon as she got up to her room she slammed the door hard and fell down on her bed.

"What's happening to me?" she sobbed. "How could Valtor have gotten my powers without me knowing?" Tecna continued her sobs for a few more minutes but in the end decided to take a soothing bath, to help clear her head. She remembered the herbal bubble bath Flora gave her; she poured the bottle in the tub and let the bubbles rise high. Tecna took a huge sigh and sat in the tub.

It felt so soothing to be in the water, the bubbles tickling her skin. It felt as if all her worries went away. "Why have I hated the water so much?" Tecna smiled. She went to go put her feet up on the tub rim, and up came a...tail!

Tecna screamed in horror, thinking something else was in the tub with her. It was just like one of Bloom's horror Earth films. She stumbled to get out of the tub but found it hard to move her legs, let alone feel them. She finally noticed anywhere she moved her "supposing" legs, the tail would go in the exact same way.

Tecna quickly swished all of the bubbles out of the way so she could see below the water. There it was, right at her hips and down was a lilac scale tail. It shimmered very brightly.

"This can't be real," Tecna shook her head. Her friends would think she was a freak... Tecna touched her tail and her touch senses could feel it. "Yup, it's connected to me." She sat on the rim of the tub with her...tail out of the water.

"What will happen if I dry it out?" Tecna wondered. Her question was answered when a few minutes later when she dried off her tail. It magically disappeared in a million sparkles of light. Tecna's legs were exactly the same as before, nothing had changed about her legs. She quickly ran out of the room and threw on her pyjama's. She flopped down on her bed.

"This must be one of Valtor's new powers," Tecna thought. "And I was his test subject!"

**Well we all know Valtor had nothing to do with this..**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Mermaid Biology

Tecna woke up the next morning face down in her pillow. She flipped over to see 8:00 am flashing on her clock. Tecna realised she slept through the rest of the day AND night.

"Was it a dream?" Tecna got up groggily and rushed silently to the bathroom to see if it was a mess like she left it. She opened the door cautiously and seen the bathroom cleaner than it's ever been. "It felt so real though..."

Tecna rushed quietly to get dressed and ready. Mrs. Faragonda wanted to speak with her this morning. "Probably about yesterday..." Tecna sighed. Tecna really hoped she had answers for her. She rushed silently out the door and down to her office.

"Please take a seat Tecna," Mrs. Faragonda said in a very serious tone. Tecna did what she was told and sat in the chair.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" Tecna asked.

"What happened yesterday during the training exercise?" Faragonda asked.

"I...I couldn't transform at all. I think Valtor has something to do with it," Tecna frowned.

"I think it had to do with the Omega Dimension," Mrs. F replied.

"But my powers worked when I got back!" Tecna argued back.

Mrs. F was silent. "Maybe you are right Tecna, but for the next little while you are excused from classes and I want you to as much research as possible on power disappearance."

"Don't you have information for me?" Tecna asked.

"I've never heard of such a case. The only way I could see such a thing happening is the Omega Dimension affected your powers slightly. But after you told me your powers worked after you got back well... I'm clueless now," Mrs. F replied.

Tecna felt hopeless, "It's just not fair! If it was Valtor who did this...why me?"

"Because he knows you are very strong, being able to get out of Omega without a scratch," she replied.

"I just want it to stop," Tecna replied sadly. She stood up and clenched her hands into fists, "Valtor will pay."

XxXXxxXXxx

After leaving the office, Tecna went down to the school library to find the answers she desperately wanted.

She stood on the podium in the library. "Mermaid," she told the machine. Only one very old book flew from one of the top shelves. Tecna shrugged and grabbed it carefully, and then she found a spot at the back of the library.

She opened the book and dust came flying out, "Wow, old book," she coughed.

Tecna flipped through many pages, until she came to a chapter called Mermaid Biology. Tecna finally found something that could explain it.

_In some rare cases there are people out there that, when their legs are in water, will turn into a mermaid. Their tail will disappear when left out to dry after a couple minutes. No one has figured out how people gain this._

"Valtor knows," Tecna frowned and continued to read.

_Even though mermaids can't fly or shoot magic, they can swim very fast and can summon creatures to help them. This can be just as rewarding as being a fairy._

Things started making sense to Tecna more. Before she could read ahead a group of students started coming in. She took her book and ran to the podium and ordered it to go back to its original spot. Tecna left looking as though nothing happened.

"I have to find out, if it's all true," Tecna sighed. "But I don't want anyone to find out... I'll go down to the lake tonight when everyone's asleep."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Good night Tecna," Musa yawned from the other side of the room.

"Night," Tecna pretended to yawn. She waited for Musa to fall asleep, and then she sprang into action.

Tecna used one of her gadgets to make a hologram of herself, "Pretty convincing, if I do say so myself," she whispered to herself. Right before leaving Tecna remembered to grab her barrier breaker so she could get through the schools shield without anyone knowing, hopefully. She decided to take the faster way out and climbed a vine branch outside her balcony down to the bottom. Finally after getting through the barrier around the school, she was out into the wilderness. No magic to protect her this time. The cool air made Tecna feel chilly, only wearing her pyjamas and a bathing suit underneath was probably why.

"I hope no one notices I'm gone," Tecna shivered and pushed her way through the damp bushes. She hurried down to the lake. Knowing she had no magic there would be no way of defending herself. The forest looked so scary tonight making her feel even more uncomfortable about being alone.

"Valtor...he wants to see me powerless to him," Tecna wiped some tears from her cheek, "Ms Faragonda is right, I must be a threat for surviving the Omega Dimension."

When she reached the lake everything changed. The water seemed to glow under the moon and stars. The tall weeds blew gently in the wind and a bunch of fireflies danced around Tecna. It felt so magical, giving her a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

"I just have to get this done and over with," Tecna thought out loud. She quickly removed her pyjama's showing her lavender bathing suit.

"I have to hide these," Tecna looked at her pyjamas. She threw them in some thick reeds. Swiftly she dove into the water below.

**Sorry about the huge wait...had three school projects on the go ):**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Lockette

Tecna watched something unbelievable happen. As soon as she got under the water she looked behind her to see her Enchantix wings start growing out from her back. Tecna immediately thought the spell was lifted.

Then things began to change even more. After her wings grew to their original size, they materialized into a swarm of blinding glitter. The swarm circled around her and left behind the mermaid tail and this time her bathing suit evaporated and changed into a lilac bikini top that tied up around the neck and was made up of various shells. Finally there was a shell and seaweed headband in her hair.

"I'm...I'm dreaming, I know it," Tecna bit her lip. She pinched herself multiple times to try and wake herself up. Nothing happened; she only drifted in the underwater abyss for what felt like hours. Tecna began to cry but noticed her tears float away.

"What am I going to do?" Tecna sniffed. "I don't know what Valtor is planning but I'll undo this spell...somehow."

Tecna felt the necklace Timmy gave her around her neck.

"Timmy would tell me not to give up, he would help me," Tecna smiled grimly. "But he...everyone would think of me as a weirdo looking like this. What am I going to do?"

"Tecna?" she heard someone say behind her. Tecna froze, who was talking to her?

"H...Hello?" she turned around to see all six of the bonded pixies in little bubbles looking at her in curiosity.

"What are you guys doing down here?" Tecna gasped. She grabbed them all and rushed to the surface. They all floated out of her arms once they broke the surface.

"We want to know what you're doing down here," Tune asked.

"And why do you have a tail?" Chatta added. Tecna was shocked that they weren't running away scared of her.

"I...I wanted to keep this a secret," Tecna covered her face.

"We won't tell anyone," Digit replied. "You can trust us." Digit came over and hugged Tecna.

"First you guys have to answer me one question, how did you know I was here?"

"We seen you sneak through the forest," Amore explained.

"We knew something was up," Lockette added.

"Something **IS** up, look what Valtor did to me!" Tecna sobbed.

"Valtor did this to you?" Amore flew around her.

"I have no idea how, but I think he did this to me so I would be less of a threat," Tecna sighed and sank deeper in the water so only her head showed.

"So you lost your powers and you're a...mermaid?"Digit asked. "Very illogical."

Tecna nodded in response, she started to cry. "I never wanted this!"

"You need to show Valtor whose boss!" Chatta said angrily.

Tecna stopped crying and looked at Chatta.

"This is what he wants to happen to you, too sad to even try!" Chatta replied.

"We are going to help you. You are going to be the best mermaid you can be so you can defeat Valtor!" Lockette replied.

"Logical," Digit pondered.

"I...I don't know what to say," Tecna sighed.

Piff flew over and landed on Tecna's head. Piff used a little bit of her magic to make Tecna smile.

"Maybe you guys are right," Tecna smiled grimly.

"We are right!" All the pixies said together.

"Well what am I supposed to do now?" Tecna asked the pixies.

They were all silent, Tecna decided to swim around the lake for awhile. She felt very clumsy when trying to swim; she awkwardly bumped into rocks and seaweed.

"I am never going to get the hang of this," Tecna sighed. Eventually she made it back to the pixies.

"How'd it go?" Amore asked.

"Not good. It's just so hard swimming without feet. I'll try again," Tecna sighed and dove back down.

"We have to help her," Digit said to the other pixies. "I'm her bonded pixie..."

"It takes time to reach perfection," Tune replied.

"If she doesn't get the hang of it, I'm worried she'll give up completely," Digit sadly said. This made Piff to start crying.

"It's okay Piff," Amore hugged the baby pixie. "We'll think of something."

Lockette suddenly thought of something. "I've got an idea, but I'm not sure if it'll work."

Lockette started, "I think Tecna's all caught up in her mind that she doesn't believe that she can do it."

"She said she was trying," Digit replied.

"I think it's something deep inside her mind, she needs to be more relaxed instead of being stressed," Lockette corrected.

"How do you suppose we correct it?" Amore asked.

"We need to open her mind, and that's where I come in," Lockette pulled out her wand. "Watch this." She went and dipped her wand in the water. The lake went bright blue then returned to normal.

"What did you just do?" Chatta asked, puzzled.

"Shhhh look!" Lockette pointed at the water. They all watched Tecna do jumps out of the water with ease and swim really fast now.

"How did you...?" Digit looked at Lockette clueless of what she just did.

"I opened Tecna's mind so she's completely focused on her swimming. Look how good at swimming she is now."

"Don't you think Tecna will be suspicious?" Tune asked.

Tecna swam over to the pixies.

"I don't know what happened, but something in my mind just clicked and I can swim great!" Tecna squealed in excitement.

"Does that answer your question?" Lockette giggled.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Close

Every night for the past week Tecna and the pixies would meet up by the lake. They were Tecna's supporters that she desperately needed. Especially since Timmy and her friends couldn't be there. Tecna felt better about herself every day, she only hoped no one would find out.

Thursday night her routine started like normal. She jumped in the lake and the pixies talked with her on what to improve on.

"Your speed is great," Digit started. "You haven't done any jumping recently. Let's work on that."

Tecna nodded in response. She did many jumps out of the water, each one higher than the last.

"Do you think she's going to find out about what you did to her?" Amore asked Lockette.

"Maybe," Lockette shrugged.

"You shouldn't keep lies from her," Tune scolded.

"How was that?" Tecna popped her head above the water.

"Perfect. You've really mastered this mermaid thing," Digit smiled.

"All thanks to you guys," Tecna smiled back.

"Plus, Valtor and the Trix are hiding out on Tides," Digit replied. "Great time to take him down."

"You're forgetting the brainwashed mermaids. They'll tear Tecna to shreds," Lockette panicked.

"I have to do it. I sacrificed myself once, I'll do it again," Tecna sighed.

The pixies were left in silence; they thought Tecna had completely lost it.

"Do you guys hear that?" Chatta broke the silence.

"It sounds like motor bikes," Digit replied.

Tecna and the pixies watched six bikes pull up next to the lake. The figures removed their helmets to reveal Sky, Brandon, Timmy, Riven, Helia, and Nabu.

"Oh no, what are they doing here?" Tecna whispered in a panic.

Tecna and the pixies snuck over and hid in the reeds. They were close enough to hear their conversation with each other.

"_Say it again, what did you see the other night?" Timmy asked Sky and Brandon._

"_It was this girl, half fish half girl," Brandon replied._

"_Mermaid," Nabu added. "It's called a mermaid."_

"_I'm not an idiot Nabu," Brandon said, "But me and Sky both seen it!"_

"_I think you guys have lost it," Riven rolled his eyes._

"_No we haven't. We saw this mermaid jump in and out of the water for awhile. We came back during the day and there was nothing in the lake," Sky said._

"_It doesn't make sense, mermaids live on realms like Tides," Nabu replied._

The specialists removed their shorts to reveal bathing suits. Tecna giggled silently at them.

"_You guys really want to prove it," Helia sighed._

"They must have seen me the other night," Tecna gasped.

The specialists jumped in the water and swam in the opposite direction of Tecna.

"What do I do now?" Tecna panicked.

"Hurry and get rid of the tail!" Chatta replied.

"She can't, they'll see her," Digit corrected.

Tecna watched Timmy pull out one of his waterproof sonar inventions.

"Timmy's going to see me like this," Tecna sobbed.

"Find something to hide under, like a cave or something. The sonar won't detect you!" Digit ordered. "Go and hide!"

Tecna dove under but accidently slapped her tail loudly on the water's surface. "Ahh!" Tecna squealed and dove around the lake trying to find a place to hide.

"_Did you guys hear that?" Brandon said pointing in the direction Tecna just was._

"_Yeah," Sky looked around suspiciously._

_Timmy and Helia dove under to see the silhouette of a mermaid swim underneath them and into the darkness._

"_We saw it!" Timmy rushed above surface._

"_There is something down there," Helia replied._

"_Told you," Brandon sighed._

"_What do you want to do now though?" Riven asked._

"_I just want to get closer to it. Maybe she's stuck here and needs help," Brandon shrugged._

"_You can't be serious?" Riven rolled his eyes._

Tecna could hear the entire conversation from below.

"You might as well give up Brandon. It's not going to happen," Tecna giggled. She watched from the shadows below as the specialists swim around the lake looking for her. "They're so oblivious."

Timmy suddenly started punching in information on his gadget.

"I've got to hide!" Tecna panicked. She swam hysterically trying to find a small cave so the sonar couldn't find her. Finally she found a small Tecna-sized opening. She waited to hear the specialists.

"_Just a few more buttons and..." Timmy's gadget made a beeping noise. "Hmm..."_

"_What?" Brandon asked._

"_The lakes empty."_

"_It can't be empty, we just saw it!" Helia replied._

"_She must be hiding from the sonar," Timmy pondered._

"_Maybe she's hiding in an underwater cave? Mermaids are pretty smart," Nabu said._

"_It's a fish Nabu," Riven said rudely._

"I'll show him who's just a fish," Tecna mumbled. She would get back at Riven another time.

_For a little while longer the specialist dove and swam, trying to find Tecna. In the end they all gave up._

After the guys got out of the water Tecna listened in on them through the reeds.

"_Here," Brandon tossed around towels._

"_Well this was pointless," Riven wrapped himself with a towel._

"_It wasn't pointless. We know something lives in this lake now," Sky replied._

"_I swear I've seen her before. She seemed so familiar," Timmy said to himself._

"_Well maybe the girls could get in touch with her," Nabu suggested._

"_That reminds me, we should plan a group date with them," Sky told the others._

"_Cool, I'll call Stella when I get to the school," Brandon said._

The guys rode off on their bikes, but Timmy stayed behind just a few more minutes. Tecna wanted to embrace him so much. "I love you Timmy," she said before quietly sinking back into the water.

Timmy stared out at the lake; he hoped to catch another glimpse of her. Just as he was about to leave, he saw her. Tecna jumped far out of the water multiple times.

"_I've seen her somewhere," Timmy said again, "I'm sure of it."_

Tecna watched Timmy smile then ride away.

She went to shore and sat on a rock. The pixies came out of hiding.

"What a thrill," Tecna told them.

"We thought for sure you were going to get caught," Lockette replied.

"I hid in this really small cave in the rock," she explained.

"Unable to be detected by the sonar," Digit added. "Smart."

"You aren't going to hide this forever, are you?" Chatta asked.

"I'm going to try, it's going to save everyone the trouble," Tecna said. Suddenly the shimmering light came back and Tecna sat there with legs and her bathing suit.

"You wouldn't lie to your friends," Tune landed on Tecna's shoulder.

"It's for the better," Tecna sat up. "Besides, once I defeat Valtor I'm sure I'll return to normal."


End file.
